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In Today’s Edition
OpenAI acquires AI design studio Global Illumination
Caden lands $15M to let users monetize their personal data
iPhone 15 production begins in India as Apple aims to diversify from China
Ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt to launch AI-science moonshot
Self-driving car bets
The Next Next Job, a framework for making big career decisions
🚀Startups Nuts
OpenAI has acquired Global Illumination, a New York-based AI startup that creates digital experiences. This is OpenAI's first public acquisition, and the terms of the deal were not disclosed. Global Illumination has worked with major companies such as Facebook, Google, and Pixar. The team will now work on core products at OpenAI, including ChatGPT. OpenAI has received billions in venture capital and aims to increase revenue from $30 million last year to $200 million this year and $1 billion next year.
Caden, a startup backed by Yahoo founder Jerry Yang, offers users controls to fine-tune which data they share with third parties, allowing them to monetize their data in various ways. The company secures the data in an encrypted vault and anonymizes it before sharing it with third parties. Users can opt out of data sharing at any time and have the ability to delete their data by removing their Caden account. The company recently launched Caden AI, which leverages the behavioral data shared with Caden to provide content and product recommendations. Caden raised $15m in a Series A funding round led by Nava Ventures with participation from Yang’s AME Cloud Ventures, Streamlined Ventures, Montage Ventures, Industry Ventures, 1707 Capital and AAF Management.
🏭Business Nuts
Google is constantly evaluating new projects and technologies. One of Google's AI units is developing at least 21 different tools for life advice, planning, and tutoring. More than 100 people with Ph.D.s have been working on the project. Google has reportedly contracted with Scale AI to test the tools.
Foxconn has started production of the iPhone 15 in India. It will start delivering devices a few weeks after shipping from China-based factories begins. Apple is diversifying its supply chain due to tensions between the US and China. The US has taken multiple actions to restrict the flow of key technologies and investments into China.
📱Tech Nuts
Former CEO Eric Schmidt is building an organization to tackle scientific challenges with the help of AI. Schmidt has already hired two accomplished scientists for the initiative, which is modeled after OpenAI. Funding for the organization will come mostly from Schmidt's personal wealth, but outside funds will likely be necessary due to the scope of the project. Schmidt intends to offer competitive salaries and resources.
While investors were optimistic enough to bet on self-driving cars back in 2016, most experts and people in tech thought it was pretty unlikely to be ready by 2023. People seem to treat self-driving as if it were an easy AI problem, but perceiving and quickly reacting to the world is something that we evolved to be good at, and driving sometimes requires complex problem-solving. There is a big gap between 'pretty good' and 'actually good enough'.
🔥Newsletter Spotlight
See Bay Area Times - The Bay Area Times is an awesome daily digest of what's happening in the world of tech. - Link
Prompt Engineering Daily - Get the most simplified and tactical AI prompts, insights and tools to stay ahead of the curve. Read by ~100,000 readers from Apple, Microsoft, Google, Meta and more - Link
🎁Miscellaneous
The 'Next Next Job' framework involves reflecting on what job you want to be your next next job and why you can't get it right now. After identifying what you want, you can work backwards from that and plan your career accordingly. We often don't know what our next next job might be, but thinking about it helps when making major decisions as you know what you are working towards. It can also help you realize that you might already be qualified for what you want to do, or help you figure out what gaps you have to cover to get where you want to go.
💡What else are we reading and seeing?
How Google is planning on beating OpenAI
TPG approached EY about buying stake in consulting arm
What are Michael Burry and Warren Buffett seeing that we’re not?
Forget the office gym - welcome to the gym office
CFOs are stepping into rapidly revolving door
The world’s happiest man shares 3 rules for life
Warren Buffett’s number one rule on where people should work is genius
Open challenges in LLM research
Automating creativity
Is this a good book for me, now?
😎Fun Fact
The world's smallest mammal, the bumblebee bat, weighs about the same as a penny
🐦Tweet of the Day
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